Chapter 4

Hermione was lying motionless on the cold hard ground and, although she was conscious - at least she thought she was conscious - she couldn't move. Panic filled her as she tried desperately to move an arm, a leg, open an eye but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't move an inch. She felt herself getting cold, and horror filled her as she realised her body wasn't shivering in an attempt to stay warm. What was wrong with her? Where was she? How had she got here? Questions plagued Hermione as she struggled to remember what had happened. Malfoy... Yes, that was right, she had been arguing with Malfoy and they had... time travelled? He'd come with her? Was he alright? What on earth could Hermione Granger do?

A few feet away from Hermione's still body lay Draco Malfoy. Unlike Hermione, he was able to move and groaning, he sat up. His vision blurred every time he moved slightly and it took him a while to fully regain his senses. He saw a silver bracelet on his wrist but paid little notice to it. He stood up at looked around in horror as he finally comprehended what had happened. He was stuck, in the past, with Hermione Granger who was currently (he assumed) unconscious or dead on the ground next to him. Malfoy shivered. The night was cool and clear. He could see the constellations above him in the sky and as he studied them he reassuringly found his name star - Draco. Malfoy gave a rare smile at the sight. He sat back down on the grass and lost himself in thought, eventually slipping into a restless sleep whilst the wind howled through the trees in the Forbidden Forest, the noise entering his dreams as snarling wolves, cornering him as they went in for the kill.

Hermione too entered the world of sleep and she remained unconscious until the late hours of the morning. When she awoke she found herself able to move again. She opened her eyes to see that she was surrounded by students, all gaping at her.

"Hello?", Hermione rasped, her mouth dry from sleep. "W-what's going on?"

"She's awake!", she heard someone yell, "Get the headmaster, quick!"

'Headmaster', thought Hermione, groggily. 'Dumbledore!'

And after that brief thought, Hermione returned to the world of dreams once more. Malfoy was watching what was occurring, bemused. He had woken a couple of hours before Hermione. Why was no one looking at him? He had appeared here too, after all. At first he had assumed it was because of his Slytherin robes, but he soon noticed that the crowd contained members of all four houses. So why on earth was he being ignored? Malfoy bristled at the thought of anyone daring to ignore him. He was a Malfoy. He was to be respected, not ignored. How dare these... these peasants ignore him as such! He was going to teach them a lesson. Malfoy got to his feet and swayed for a moment before regaining his balance. He approached the crowd and went to shove one of the smaller Hufflepuff students out of the way. Just as he reached to touch him, Malfoy's hand went straight through the first year and Malfoy fell flat on his face, his body going through the students without them even noticing, almost like he was a ghost.

"What the hell?", Malfoy yelled angrily.

Not a single person appeared to notice his voice anymore than they had noticed him falling through them all. One person even had the audacity to stand on him. Malfoy yelped before he realised that he couldn't feel them either. What on earth was going on? Was he dead? No, he couldn't be dead. Magical people could see and feel ghosts after all.

Malfoy rose to his feet and saw a group of people rushing towards the cluster of students. As they got closer he realised that they were the Hogwarts teachers - Dumbledore, Slughorn and a few other faces he didn't recognise.

"Out of the way, all of you", he heard Slughorn's distinctive voice, "Everyone is to return inside immediately whilst we sort this situation out!"

The elderly man at the front of the professors watched as very few of the students showed any interest in moving away. "If all of the professors except myself, Professor Dumbledore and Professor Slughorn would escort the students back to the castle?

Grumbling at missing what was sure to be the most interesting thing that had happened all year, the Hogwarts students moved away with their professors and began to head up to the castle. The few stragglers who kept looking over their shoulders found themselves at the receiving end of an icy glare from the Potions Master which sent them hurrying on their way.

"Now, Headmaster", Slughorn said, a tremor in his voice, "What has happened here?"

Malfoy turned to face Dumbledore and was surprised when it was the elder man next to him who answered her question.

"I am not sure, Horace", the old man replied, "I have never seen something like this before".

"If I may, Headmaster Dippet", Dumbledore said gravely, "Could I ennervate the child? See if she can tell us anything?"

Headmaster Dippet nodded and Professor Dumbledore took out his wand, "Ennervate", he said clearly, the spell shooting out from his wand to revive the young woman on the floor.

Hermione woke up, and saw the faces of Dumbledore, Slughorn and Dippet (whose face she recognised from McGonagall's office in the future). Horror filled her as she realised how far back in the past they must have travelled if Dumbledore wasn't even the Headmaster. Both he and Slughorn looked 50 years younger. Slughorn looked a young wizard, still recognisable but his hair, instead of being its usual light grey was a chestnut brown and there were no signs of the age lines that would, in the future, criss cross his face. He was skinnier than she remembered too. Dumbledore's beard and hair also showed no signs of grey, a light brown they were both shorter than they were when Hermione knew him. His beard reached the top of his chest and his hair the middle of his back. He had the same eccentric style as he had in the future. Hermione looked around her wildly, searching for Malfoy. She saw him sat down about 3 feet away from her, near the professors. Blood streaked his face from a deep gash in his cheek and his usually perfectly groomed hair was tussled and filthy. He looked over at Hermione and smirked.

"Well, Granger, this is a new one."

"Malfoy!", Hermione exclaimed, "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" What happened to you?"

Malfoy was puzzled by her obvious concern for him - she hated him. Why should she care if he was hurt? "I'm fine Granger, although the fact that you appear to be talking to yourself looks to be worrying our future professors. I'd worry about yourself right now. Might be lugged off to a mental ward in St Mungos". Malfoy smirked, using his hatred of Hermione Granger to mask his fear and uneasiness about the situation.

"But... Malfoy-"

"May we ask how you got here, Miss -?" Dumbledore began, worry evident in his voice as he watched the distressed girl on the floor, her clothes caked in mud and her entire body bruised or gashed.

"-why can't they see you? They must be able to see you! I can see you!", Hermione became hysterical. She began to scream and attempted to pull herself over to Malfoy. Malfoy watched in horror as the tears cascaded down her face. She reached him, watched closely by the three professors, all of whom had drawn their wands in case the girl proved any danger to herself or them (when in distress a witch or wizard is capable of using devastating accidental magic). Hermione tried to grab onto Malfoy and found her hand went right through him. Malfoy didn't say a word as Hermione repeatedly tried to hold him, crying all the while as she did. Why was she so bothered about him? Didn't she realise how unstable she looked right now?

Hermione turned, agony ripping through her body as she moved her damaged muscles. Danger filled her voice as she asked, "What have you done to him?" All reasoning had left Hermione Granger momentarily - her injuries, her situation and her fatigue had temporarily removed her common sense. "What have you done to him?" she screamed.

Hermione drew her wand, anger radiating from her and her final sight was a flash of red light leaving Slughorn's wand as he stunned the girl before she cursed the Headmaster.

"Albus", said the Headmaster, his eyes wide with shock "Would you and Horace be so kind as to inform Poppy about the situation? Tell her everything but don't utter a word to any one else. The poor girl doesn't need any more attention that she will already get."

"Of course", replied Slughorn, a tremor in his voice "Shall we take the girl with us?"

"That may be for the best. Disillusion her as well. I shall hunt the area. She was speaking of a boy, perhaps he is here with her. I shall scour the grounds for him in case".

Headmaster Dippet briskly walked away leaving the transfiguration professor and his apprentice behind with the seemingly mad girl. Dumbledore cast the spell of disillusionment on her and proceeded to levitate her. Malfoy watched all this, interested. He couldn't fathom how Granger could see him but no one else could. As the two professors walked away in silence, carrying Hermione with them, Malfoy's wrist began to burn. The new bracelet was scorching his skin! Malfoy tried to remove it, staggering fowards as he did. As he neared the professors, the burning cooled. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the grass, determined to remove his new item of jewellery. As the professors continued away from him his wrist began to burn again, spots of white flashed in his vision as agonising pain swept through his whole arm. Without realising it, he once more staggered towards the professors and Hermione and once again the pain stopped. Horror filled him as he realised the truth, the further away from Granger he got, the more pain he was in. Malfoy groaned at the realisation. He was well and truly screwed.

A/N: I don't feel as though I managed to write this chapter very well. I think I hit a writer's block. Any constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. It's rather likely I update this chapter again, but I thought I'd post it and see if I got any ideas from readers. Thanks for reading!